Chris Harrison blogs 'The Bachelor' Episode 4

Welcome back, Bachelor Nation! Our exciting trip around the world with Arie has just begun, and there’s no better place than South Lake Tahoe to get back into the wilderness. As you can see, this week is really when things started to become more serious, and more dramatic. At this point, everyone has spent some quality time with Arie, and as a result, the competition for his time, energy, and attention is becoming more fierce.

The first date of the week went to Seinne. She’s kind of been a frontrunner so far, with a group date rose in the second week, and Arie has really talked her up in several of their conversations, noting in particular how smart and together she seems. In some ways, I think Seinne brings up some of Arie’s insecurities. Going into this whole thing after five years, Arie had some legitimate concerns that the women he liked might not like him back. He’s actually quite humble, and his humility is one of the things I think people find surprising about him. It was only fitting that at dinner, Seinne brought up some of her own fears and insecurities, and Arie was able to help put some of those to rest. Seinne was a little more skeptical than some of the other women and honestly, I really think that made Arie feel more comfortable. Being the Bachelor is difficult, and feeling like someone else is going through all the tough parts with you is something that can really bring people together. At this point, Seinne has really cemented her place at the front of the pack.

The group date this week was hilarious. First and foremost, the pee gag (pun intended) was one of the funniest things I’ve seen on this show. I have to give major props to Jacqueline and Jenna for being willing to go the extra mile for Arie. First of all, the location for this date was really deep in the woods, maybe two hours away from the Hard Rock, where Arie was staying. On top of that, the forecast for the day was partly sunny with a low in the 50s, but as soon as Arie, our wilderness experts, and the women got off into the woods, it started snowing. To say that no one was really prepared to spend the entire day wet and in the snow would be an understatement. Feet were frozen and noses went numb. Thankfully, this is The Bachelor, so there was a giant hot tub as the light at the end of the tunnel — and that is exactly where you could really see that as the ladies were defrosting, their claws were coming out.

For the last few weeks, tension has been bubbling mainly between Krystal and the other women. I think they really all have very different perspectives on what is going on. Krystal feels like the other women don’t treat her fairly, and the other women seem to feel that Krystal is not being real with them. Oftentimes, this is where things start going downhill. It’s a bit of a nonstarter when the majority of women feel like someone isn’t being real. That woman will often become even more closed off, and then the cycle just perpetuates. At the end of the day, some people just won’t ever get along, and to be honest, when people are all competing for the same person, it’s OK for everyone to not end up as friends. But I can tell you this, things are going to get worse before they get better.

Since the first night, Arie has had pretty strong chemistry with Bekah. M, but from the moment she got out of her vintage car, they had both obviously been avoiding the issue of her age. And once you don’t address something immediately, it gets harder and harder to talk about it — especially if that thing could negatively affect your relationship. Arie is 14 years older than Bekah, and there was some concern he felt about how ready a 22-year-old woman can be for the kind of commitment he wants. Age definitely doesn’t always dictate maturity levels or what one wants out of life, but it’s not exactly useless information either. Anyway, Arie was, I think, avoiding the topic, but once it came out, there was just no way to avoid it anymore. You can tell by how conflicted he was that this is something that is really going to weigh heavily on him as he makes his decisions moving forward. Needless to say, I don’t think Bekah is in danger of going home anytime soon.

Spoiler: next week I will be revealing my significant age difference, and it’s not what you think. My full name is actually Rebekah Cullen. my family would appreciate privacy during this time pic.twitter.com/CwqA2tYRDq

After a rough and very long week, Arie knew what decisions he wanted to make, and while this is often really difficult for the women, in the end, most people are happier to know when things are over in the mind of the other person as soon as possible. Obviously Krystal had some things she needed to address, and I commend her for following her instincts, but of course she also had to know this would only increase tensions between her and the other women. And next week, all of this is really going to come to a head, in a big way. We will see you on Monday!